@MasterPi: Your speculating, while DevGeek is asking for something more concrete... even just a rumor would be better. :)

I doubt there's any chance they'll give away a Surface 2 Pro, especially in combination with anything else. Just too expensive. I also doubt a Surface 2 would be given away, as they've already given Surface RTs. The rumored Surface Mini seems like a better bet.

The Xbox One does sound like a long shot, but I think it makes sense given rumors about the focus of this Build that they'd at least give deep discounts on this like they did for the Surface RT/Pro last time.

But, like you, I'm just speculating. To the best of my knowledge there have not even been rumors here.

@Weiman: Yes, it was. They did not give away a Surface Pro last year. They did sell it at a deep discount, but that's hardly the same thing.

The rumors are that Xbox One is going to have an app market place and the APIs for Win8/WP8/Xbox are converging for this very reason. Further, the rumor is this Build will be all about making apps for WP and Xbox. So, saying "Xbox one doesn't really fit the profile" and "it does kinda run Windows" are both really inaccurate statements.

> They did not give away a Surface Pro last year. They did sell it at a deep discount, but that's hardly the same thing.

Huh? It seems impossible to post links here, but please search "What handing out 6,000+ Surface Pros look like". I wasn't there myself but two colleagues came home with Pros without any mention of money switching hands.

> So, saying "Xbox one doesn't really fit the profile" and "it does kinda run Windows" are both really inaccurate statements.

Huh again? I'll give you the first one, if the rumors are true. But even according to Microsoft themselves, "we created a state-of-the-art gaming OS and fused it with a powerful Windows OS". Again, google the phrase if you don't believe me.

One of the failings of Win 8 and Windows Phone is the lack of a robust app market. Getting people to develop "killer apps" for the Xbox One (which should translate to other platforms easily) should boost adoption.

Xbox One is going to be the #1 hardware SKU for MS. If they can get wide spread adoption of it, then adoption of Win 8/9 and Windows Phone will follow. What better way to create excitement about it than giving it out to developers to create those killer apps and figure out new ways to take advantage of it's tech.

Not to mention that cost-wise, the Xbox One is cheaper than a Surface Pro 2 and probably on par with a Surface Mini.

There are safety issues with giving all attendees an XBO. 1) The noise from the cheers will cause the Moscone center roof to collapse, thus causing harm to developers. 2) It may injure there own employees - has a Microsoftie ever been hugged to death?

There are safety issues with giving all attendees an XBO. 1) The noise from the cheers will cause the Moscone center roof to collapse, thus causing harm to developers. 2) It may injure there own employees - has a Microsoftie ever been hugged to death?

Ehhh. I think it's Eventcore actually doing the handing out of the stuff :) So it won't actually be the employees. But that is a consideration.

One problem with giving away the XBO might be the logistics of everyone getting it home. A phone or tablet can fit in your carryon. An XBO, not so much

Yeah, I completely agree. If anything was going to keep them from giving out XBOs it's this. I thought maybe they could give vouchers to get one at BestBuy (since there are MS stores in BestBuy). But that's a logistical nightmare.

One option for XBO would be to give "voucher" card to get one from your local merchant when you got home. Solves MS logistics of getting them to SFO, transport for us getting them home, power cable issues, warranty support....